Tuesday, August 19, 2008

Fake It Till You Make It

Last night I informed Salinda that I would not be waking her up in the morning unless she gave me a time and asked me to. She told me she didn't want me to wake her up, that she would get herself up.

I knew I was taking a huge risk and that she might not make it to work crew this morning if I didn't, but I decided I was tired of being yelled at for waking her up. At least I could get yelled at for doing what she told me to do -- leave her alone.

But she got up! And then proceeded to be nasty and rule to me. "Are you ready?" she asked me. I said, how about, "Can I please have a ride?" which she dutifully said with THAT tone. And I gave her the ride.

I decided to take the advice of C.S. Lewis whose theory was that love was a commitment and not an emotion and that we don't always feel loving feelings. He suggested

Do not waste time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbour; act as if you did. As soon as we do we discover one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him."


So I answered her wrath with kind words over and over again until she finally broke her attitude and we could have a decent conversation.....

And she's gone until 12:30. And I'm here able to get things done. She even agreed to go shopping with Sadie and I this afternoon.

Fake it till you make it. I"m not sure that's as sophisticated as C.S. Lewis would like, but it's really what it boils down to.

1 comment:

junglemama said...

((applause)) Good for you! :)